


The Good Hair Squad

by WipperSnapper24



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Doesn't follow the show, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mainly rated T because of the language, Some suggestions of violence later on, They're all in high school and they're all the same age, alternative universe, slow burn but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-08-29 12:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16743829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WipperSnapper24/pseuds/WipperSnapper24
Summary: We are not alone in this universe, despite how much we wish we were.Cyrus Goodman is a new student to Jefferson High School, but there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye.Because of him, Buffy, Andi, Jonah, TJ and a whole host of others learn that the universe isn’t quite as simple as they initially thought it was. Their lives change for the worse (or better, depending on how you look at it).





	1. His First Day

**  
–**   **Monday 22 nd October, 7:59pm –**

_**Jefferson High School** _

 

Lester was running, running faster than he ever had before. Past posters, past doorways, but the corridor seemingly never ended. He didn’t know where his feet were taking him. All he knew was that he had to get away from whatever that thing was.

He had been in the changing room when he saw it, pulling his stripped t-shirt over his head. A shadow, or at least that was what he thought it was at first, loomed on the wall by the pegs only a few feet from where Lester was changing. He didn’t think anything of it at first and instead went back to packing his bag. After all, it was just a shadow. Right?

But on second glance Lester noticed something bone chilling. The shadow didn’t belong to anything. With a frown on his face, he had moved to get a closer look at it. But he didn’t get much closer.

At that moment, 2D became 3D and the shadow jumped out at him. Lester didn’t get a proper look at what had formed because he was already legging it.

And now he found himself here, trying to get to the exit of the school. In his panic, though, he had somehow found himself lost and instead of being at the exit, he was now by the drama department. Which was in the completely wrong direction! How had he managed to fuck up this badly!?

But now was no time to ponder stupid questions, something was coming down the hallway. It wasn’t making a sound and yet somehow Lester still knew something was coming. For him.

He tried to start running again but he found himself being pulled into a supply closet. The second the door slammed shut, Lester turned to his attacker (or saviour depending on how you looked at it).

His attacker (saviour) was a girl with long and wavy blonde hair.

“Who the fuck are you?!” Lester managed to get out through his heavy breathing. But she didn’t respond to his efforts. Instead, she pressed her ear up against the oak door.

“Excuse me,” Lester said, trying to get her attention by waving his hand in front of her face (maybe she was deaf?).

“I heard you,” the girl snapped, not turning to him and instead keeping her focus on the door, “The name’s Amber, now shut up I’m trying to listen,”

Lester wanted to continue asking questions, mainly why the hell was she hiding in a claustrophobic supply closet, but he was interrupted. A knock at the door.

Amber backed away from the door slowly, a wary expression on her face. She used her hand to push Lester back with her so their backs were both pressed up against the wall furthest away from the door.

Another knock.

Lester was still breathing heavily and it was a miracle that whatever  _it_  was hadn’t discovered that they were in there yet. Or maybe it had. Maybe it was just playing with its food.

Three knocks on the door.

Lester was practically shitting himself at this point. Turning to Amber, he expected her to be in a similar state of nerves. But she wasn’t. Instead, she seemed to be completely unaffected, as if this were a daily occurrence. Or perhaps she was just holding it together better than him?

The door slowly creaked open. Lester forced himself to hold his breath, even though this was probably pointless. But who knows, maybe the creature was blind?

It was standing there, the thing, and it was staring directly at them. Or ar least it seemed like it was, for where there should have been eyes instead were just empty slits. The creatures skin was decaying and black. While the creature was humanoid, it definitely wasn’t human.

“Stand back, I’ve got this,” Amber told him, going forward. Her face had contorted from having a blank expression into furious. Reed suddenly feared for the creatures life more than the girls.

Amber was fighting the demon shadow creature thing and holding her own pretty well, throwing punches and kicks in an incredibly skilled way. In return, the creature quickly threw it’s own moves at her. But somehow, she still kept up. His feeling of awe was somehow taking over his nerves.

Amber managed to push the creature back into the hallway, just enough so that Lester could slip out. He backed up away from the fight, not running away yet although he knew he definitely should. But he couldn’t help it. Her fighting was just incredible.

“This is for my family you fuck!” Amber screamed at the creature, throwing her entire weight at it causing them both to topple to the ground. She then briefly looked to Lester, “What the fuck are you still doing here, run!”

Lester didn’t need telling twice. Nerves coming back full force, he legged it away from the scene. When he got to the end of the corridor, he looked back.

Neither Amber or the creature was there.

“Hey Lester!” footsteps running down the corridor towards him. He whipped his head round to look at the person. It was Reed.

“Where the fuck have you been, bro?” Reed asked Lester upon getting to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking concerned, “Me and Teej have been looking all over for you,”

“Sorry, I got caught up with something,” Lester was still very much out of breath and Reed took immediate notice.

“Have you been running?”

Lester couldn’t get the words out, so instead he just nodded.

“Why?” Reed frowned.

“I-I-,” Lester paused. How the hell was he supposed to explain this without sounding like a total loon?

“Take your time,” Reed comforted him, flinging an arm over Lester’s shoulder, “We can walk and talk back to TJ’s car,”

“I-I-,” Lester stuttered, “I think I just saw a ghost,”

 

 **–**   **Tuesday 23 rd October, 8:31 am –**

_**Outside Jefferson High School** _

 

It was already promising to be a warm, sunny day at Jefferson High School, although you wouldn’t be able to tell from just observing the students. Some teenagers dawdled up the path to the school, dragging their feet and making every last moment of their complete freedom count. Others moved quickly, wanting to escape the bite of the early morning breeze.

But two students who were not part of either crowd were Andi and Jonah.

“Can I ask you something, Andi?” Jonah asked, stapling the poster to the tree, “Why the hell are we doing this?”

“Because, Jonah, Walker asked us to and we’re nice people,” Andi responded. In her left hand, she was carrying a whole stack of identical posters. ‘ _Come to Jefferson High’s Art Showcase!_ ’ it declared in big bold letters, ‘ _See our brilliant, accomplished, talented students fantastic creations_ ’.

“Yeah, but…,” Jonah trailed off.

“But what?” Andi turned to him, a threatening smile on her face.

“Nothing, just,” Jonah rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “You’ve got so much on your plate already, don’t you think he should do it?”

“I’ve got two things on the agenda at the moment Jonah,” Andi sighed, handing him another poster, “I am perfectly capable of dealing with both of them. Can we put this one over here?” she added, pointing towards a different tree which was nearer to the school. Jonah sighed but started to move over to it anyway. Andi followed him.

“And one of the things, Andiman, is helping organise the Halloween disco. It’s a pretty big commitment,”

“And the other is stapling some posters which won’t take any longer than this morning,” Andi finished. Jonah just rolled his eyes and stapled the poster.

“Have it your way then,” Jonah sighed, “But I won’t be able to help during lunch, I’m hanging with Natalie and her friends,”

This time, Andi rolled her eyes. “Of course you are,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you never hang out with me or Buffy anymore,” Andi could feel herself getting wound up, but then she always did when the topic of Natalie came up. If she wasn’t careful she would say something she’d regret, “You’ve ditched us for that two-timing bitch and her gaggle of brainless followers!”

Shit. Too late.

Jonah glared at her for a moment. “What have you got against my girlfriend?”

“She’s a bitch,” Andi said coolly, “A cold hearted bitch-,”

“She was,” Jonah corrected, “I’m her boyfriend and even I can admit she was. Hell, even she has admitted she was! But she’s changed, Andi,”

Andi snorted. “A leopard never changes it spots,”

“Andi,” Jonah started, “I know what she did was wrong-,”

“Hell yeah it was. Those rumours ruined my life for a whole month!”

“In the past-,”

“She hasn’t even apologised!”

“Because she’s nervous of how you’ll respond!” Jonah defended, “And I don’t blame her,”

“Whatever, Jonah. But one day, she’ll get bored of you, like she got bored of me, and she’ll spread some bullshit rumour about you and then you’ll see I’m right,”

Jonah started at her disbelief. “You’re unbelievable,”

With that, he was off and walking towards the school, not even sparing Andi with a second look.

Andi let out a long deep breath, trying to control her anger. She hated to fight with her friends, especially one of her oldest ones, but why couldn’t Jonah just see that she was right?

But now the anger was fading and the realisation of what she had just been saying clicked into place. Shit. No matter how much she disliked Natalie, it wasn’t right for Andi to lash out at Jonah like that.

Resisting the urge to chase after him to apologise, Andi knew that would do no good, she slowly moved to the nearest bench, placed the posters down next to her and buried her face in her hands.

Maybe Jonah was right. Perhaps Natalie had changed? They hadn’t spoken in ages so it was entirely possible.

No. Like she said before, a Leopard never changes their spots. Natalie was no exception to that rule. Right?

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of someone sitting next to her and picking up one of the posters.

“Interesting,” Buffy examined it, “Art showcase, ‘see our brilliant, accomplished, talented’- jesus how many adjectives do they wanna use?”

Andi snorted. “A lot, clearly,”

“And I swear all those words boil down to mean exactly the same thing,” Buffy smiled. Then, putting down the poster onto the pile, she turned to Andi with a concerned expression, “What’s up?”

“I’m a terrible friend,” Andi buried her face back in her hands again.

“No you’re not, don’t say that,” Buffy nudged her, trying to get her to come out of her hands. She succeeded, “Why would you even think that?”

“I may have yelled at Jonah again because of his choice in girlfriend,”

“Andi,” Buffy groaned.

“I know, and I’m sorry but I couldn’t help it!”

“Because you still have a lot of anger towards her,”

“Yes!”

“Well why can’t you just let it go?” Buffy suggested, “Move on from it all, and start again?”

“I want to,” Andi muttered, “But every time I try the anger just consumes me,”

“Me and TJ,” Buffy started, “Used to hate each other’s guts,”

“Well yeah,” Andi snorted, “The entire school knew. Your arguments on the basketball court were legendary,”

“He was a dick to me,” Buffy simply put, “But he grew up and he changed and he tried to be kind but I just didn’t want to forgive him, I just wanted to hold onto the past and forever use that as proof that he was a terrible human being,”

Buffy took a moment to think about what she was saying. “It took him performing a rap in the cafeteria in front of everyone for me to start forgiving him. And it wasn’t an overnight thing, it took time before I was fully comfortable in his presence. But you know what?”

“What?” Andi asked curiously.

“I’m glad I forgave him,” Buffy smiled, “He’s now one of my closet friends,”

“I get what you’re trying to say Buffy, but I don’t see how it applies to me,” Andi started, “What am I supposed to do? Wait until Natalie performs a rap to me in the cafeteria?”

“No,” Buffy laughed, “I’m suggesting you be the one in the cafeteria-,”

“What, I do the rap? I can’t rap Buffy!”

“No! Stop thinking about it so literally,” Buffy rolled her eyes, “I mean you should be the one to initiate the apology,”

“But that’s the problem,” Andi said exasperated, “I just can’t do it, I don’t have the motivation,”

“How about Jonah,” Buffy suggested, “He can be your motivation,”

“What?” Andi frowned.

“Well Jonah seems perfectly happy with Natalie and the only thing your hatred of her is doing is damaging your friendship with Jonah,” Buffy explained.

“You’re suggesting that I only forgive her to keep my friendship with Jonah?”

“Well that is how you could think about it, yeah,” Buffy said, “Starting to actually become friends with her can just be a pleasant side effect.”

Andi sighed. “You’re probably right, Buffy,”

“I know,” Buffy replied with a smile. For a moment they just sat in silence while Andi pondered this new information.  

While waiting for her to figure things out, Buffy just observed the world go by. She liked to do this from time to time (‘people watching’ her Nan called it).

Through this people watching, she noticed one kid who stuck out like a sore thumb. Not because of his appearance, this was fairly normal, but instead because it was incredibly obvious he didn’t have a clue what was going on.

The boy was wearing a blue hoodie with different penguins imprinted all over it. His hair was brown and so were his eyes, which were darting around looking for some kind of sign to indicate where the hell he should be going.

“Hey Andi,” Buffy dragged Andi out of her thoughts. When it was clear that Andi was listening to her, she pointed to Penguin Hoodie boy and asked, “Is he new?”

“What?” Andi looked confused before following Buffy’s finger, “Oh! I’ve never seen him around here before, so I’d guess so, yeah.”

“The fact he looks lost is also a dead giveaway,” Buffy pointed out. Then out of the blue, she jumped off the bench, slung her backpack over her shoulder and began speed walking over to Penguin Hoodie boy.

“What are you doing!?” Andi shouted at her from the bench.

“Helping!” Buffy called back. With a sigh, Andi picked up the posters from beside her and ran to catch up to her.

By the time she did, Buffy was already chatting to Penguin Hoodie boy.

“Hey there, newbie,” Buffy greeted him. In turn, Penguin Hoodie boy looked scared out of his mind. Andi didn’t blame him; Buffy was an intimidating force of nature, “You’re looking lost, you need any help looking for anything?”

“Yes, actually,” Penguin Hoodie boy seemed to be quite eager at finally being able to talk to someone. Andi was surprised that he had gotten over his fear of Buffy quite quickly, “I’m supposed to have maths first,”

“Who’s your teacher?” Andi asked with a kind smile.

“Miss. Martins,”

Buffy blinked. “Who now?”

“Never heard of her,” Andi frowned, “She must be new,”

“Just like you, newbie!” Buffy exclaimed, beaming at Penguin Hoodie boy. He gave her a weak smile in return, clearly unsure if Buffy was smiling at him or threatening to eat him alive.

“The name’s Cyrus actually,” Penguin Hoodie boy, or Cyrus as Andi should probably start calling him, corrected, “Cyrus Goodman,”

“Well, Cyrus Goodman, let’s go find your teacher!” Buffy had looped her arms with Cyrus and was dragging him off leaving Andi behind.

“Wait up,” Andi cried as she started to rush after them.

In the distance, Andi could hear Buffy speaking to Cyrus, “I’m Buffy, by the way, and the slowcoach behind me is Andi,”

In her haste to try and catch up, Andi found herself bumping into someone, causing her to drop all of her posters.

“Watch where you’re going!” snapped the victim of Andi’s negligence.

“I’m so sorry,” Andi apologised, already on the floor to pick up her posters. She hadn’t even given the victim a glance yet.

“Don’t worry,” Andi heard them sigh. They were a female, that much Andi could hear and their voice was rather sweet, “Let me help you with that,”

The girl came down to her level on the floor and Andi found her breath hitch. Holy shit! She was one of the most beautiful people Andi had ever seen!

The girl had the most beautiful long and wavy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Andi knew it was cliché, but you could definitely swim in them. Andi also noticed a red scar running down the girls left cheek. How had she gotten that?

Once they had collected all the posters, they both found themselves standing up. Andi still found herself lost in those deep blue eyes.

She was so lost, in fact, that she didn’t even notice the girl holding out the posters to her. With a blush, Andi took them from her hands. For only a brief moment, Andi felt their skin touch but yet it was still enough to elicit a blush to rise up Andi’s neck.

“Make sure you watch where you’re going in the future,” The girl reprimanded her.

“Y-yeah I will,” stammered Andi, “My name’s Andi, by the way,”

“Amber,” she returned, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Andi,”

“Hey Andi!” Buffy yelled and Andi found her attention leaving Amber for the first time in forever and snapping to Buffy, who was standing by the entrance to the school, “You coming or what?”

“Yeah, sorry,” she yelled back.  Turning to Amber to say goodbye, she noticed something peculiar. The girl was staring directly at Cyrus, an intense expression on her face. Looking to Cyrus, she discovered that he was staring directly back at Amber with an equally intense expression.

And then he cracked a smile. But turning back to Amber, Andi noticed that her expression of steel had not wavered. Cyrus seemed slightly put out by that. What the hell was going on between the two of them?

“I’ll see you around, Amber,” Andi said, trying to ignore the weird interaction going on between the two of them. Amber didn’t reply, but instead slightly nodded her head in farewell.

With one last smile, Andi was jogging off to get to Buffy and Cyrus.

“Right then,” Buffy began. It appeared that she hadn’t noticed the strange interaction, “Let’s find Miss. Martins,”

Heading into the school, Andi briefly paused and looked back to Amber. She was already gone though and Andi felt herself sighing wistfully.

 

**– 8:54 am –**

_**Inside Jefferson High School** _

 

“Come on, bro, we’ve only got, like, 5 minutes till class starts,” Reed whined, tugging at the sleeve of TJs hoodie, “Can’t you just show us at lunch?”

“No,” TJ protested. He was leaning on his locker and frantically scrolling through his camera roll in order to find the desired picture, “Maths can wait, dogs cannot,”

“Normally, I’d agree. But we gotta new teacher, Teej ,and I don’t wanna make a bad impression,”

“Never knew you were such a teacher’s pet, Reed,” TJ teased, not taking his eyes off his phone. Where was that bloody picture?

“Bro, I’m not. But how do you expect to have a good year if your teacher hates you from the very start? First impressions mean everything,”

“Hmph,”

“Oh come on, Teej. Just- Lester, you agree with me right, bro?” Reed turned his attention to Lester only to find that his attention was elsewhere, “Lester?”

Hearing his name for a second time seemed to snap Lester out of whatever trance he was in, “What is it?”

“Are you alright?” TJ looked concerned for his friend, “Is yesterday still on your mind?”

“Y-yeah, a bit,”

“Don’t worry, bro,” Reed put a comforting hand on Lester’s shoulder, “Just remember that none of it was real. Not the girl, not the creature. Alright?,”

“Y-yeah,” Lester gave them a weak smile. He didn’t look or sound convinced at all.

“Found it,” TJ exclaimed. He turned his phone to show Reed and Lester the picture. It was of a husky, “It’s my nans, she got it last week. It’s so fucking adorable; I just had to show you guys,”

And TJ was right; it was an adorable husky. But Reed didn’t seem impressed. “Seriously, bro, that’s worth almost being late?”

“Yes,”

“I think it’s worth it,” Lester injected.

“See, Lester agrees with me,”

“Whatever Teej,” Reed rolled his eyes.

At that moment, their conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Buffy, Andi and an unknown boy in a penguin hoodie. As TJ pocketed his phone, he couldn’t help but stare at the boy in the penguin hoodie. 

“Hey guys,” Buffy grinned upon reaching them.

“Hey Buffy, who’s this?” Reed gestured to the boy, asking the question TJ was very, very keen to find out.

“I’m Cyrus,” He introduced himself with a shy smile. TJ felt his cheeks heat up. That smile hadn’t even been directed at him and it was still one of the cutest things he had seen in a long while. And he had just seen those huskies!

“Buffy says I’m a newbie, whatever that means,” Cyrus added.

Reed just looked at him for a moment. “Nice to meet you, bro. The name’s Reed, and this is Lester and TJ,” He gestured to the two boys in turn.

“Hey,” Lester gave a small wave.

For a moment, TJ didn’t respond. He was too busy gazing into Cyrus’s eyes (how were they so brown!?). But when Reed nudged him, he was snapped out of his trance.

“Y-yeah, hi!” TJ could feel his face heating up. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed both Buffy and Reed smirking at him. TJ resisted the urge to flip them off.

“We gotta go now, anyway, otherwise we’ll be late,” Reed pulled TJ from his fantasies, “Gotta impress the new teacher,”

“Oh right,” Buffy snorted, “Didn’t realise you were such a teacher’s pet, Reed,”

“That’s what I said,” TJ shared a grin with Buffy.

“What’s a teacher’s pet?” asked Cyrus. For a moment they all just stared at him, trying to work out if he was joking or not. Cyrus shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

Upon figuring out that he wasn’t joking, TJ explained, “W-well, erm, it is someone that usually sucks up to a teacher. They never get in trouble and all that jazz, y’know?”

“Which means I’m not a teacher’s pet, I got a detention last week for breathing too loudly,”

“You are such a liar!” TJ exclaimed.

“Are they arguing?” TJ heard Cyrus mutter to Buffy.

“No, they’re always like this,” Buffy assured him.

“Oh, that’s good,” Cyrus responded, “I hate arguments,”

“Anyway,” Reed said, “Gotta dash, can’t be late,”

“Do you know who Miss. Martins is?” Andi injected, interrupting Reed from his attempts to pull TJ and Lester away, “Cyrus has got her first and we don’t know who the hell she is,”

“That’s our new maths teacher,” Reed told her, “We can show him the way if you want,”

“That’d be great, thank you,” Cyrus spoke up.

“Don’t worry about it, bro,” Reed ruffled Cyrus’s hair. TJ felt strange seeing this small gesture. Jesus, TJ, you’ve just met the boy and you’re already developing feelings. How pathetic.

TJ was broken from his internal berating by the loud trill of the bell. Reed groaned.

“And now we’re late,”

“Just tell her that you were helping the new kid,” Buffy suggested.

Reed took a moment to ponder this. “That could work,”

“Of course it could, I’m the one who came up with it,”

 

**– 9:05 am –**

_**Miss. Martins Maths Classroom, Jefferson High School** _

 

“5 minutes late,” Reed panted as the four boys ran along the corridor to the room, “5 fucking minutes! Miss will never forgive us now,”

“Well how were we supposed to know there’d be a classroom change?” TJ exclaimed, “And stop being such a drama queen!”

“I am not,” Reed retorted upon arriving at the classroom door. Immediately, he pushed open the door and the four of them stepped into the room, “Sorry we’re late, Miss, we were helping the new kid, Cyrus, and then we didn’t know what classroom we were in and-,”

“Don’t worry,” Miss. Martins smiled at them, baring her perfect white teeth. She was a dark-skinned woman with braided black hair. TJ found her quite intimidating, which was saying something, “Just sit down now, and stop interrupting my lesson,”

“Yes Miss,” They all muttered as they went to sit down near the back of the classroom. TJ didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on Cyrus.

Reed and Lester sat together leaving Cyrus and TJ to sit together at the desk in front of them. Once they were all sitting, Miss. Martins resumed her lecture.

“Sorry about this, Cyrus,” TJ whispered to him.

“Whatever for?” Cyrus frowned.

“I’m sorry we made you late for your first day, on your first lesson,”

“Don’t worry TJ,” Cyrus smiled and TJ couldn’t help but give a smile of his own, “It wasn’t your fault. Besides, we’re here now aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” chuckled TJ, “I guess you’re right,”

“Something you want to share with the class, Mr.?” Miss. Martins voice cut through their hushed conversation. TJ gulped.

“Kippen, Miss.”

“Well, Mr. Kippen?” Miss. Martin prodded, “Anything to share?”

“No Miss.” TJ replied.

“Well do me a favour then, and shut up,” Miss. Martin turned back to writing on the whiteboard, “And you can speak to me after class as well,”

“Yes, Miss.” TJ sighed. He could only imagine Reeds smug and smirking face right now. But that wasn’t what really mattered to him, he didn’t even really care he had just been caught talking. But the fact he was next to Cyrus made it all slightly worse.

Looking out the corner of his eye, TJ noticed Cyrus was looking at him with a small grin etched on his face. TJ turned fully to Cyrus and gave him a full-on toothy grin. This time, it was Cyrus who turned away with a blush causing TJ’s smile to widen even more (if that were possible).

Then he turned his attention back to the front of the classroom; he couldn’t risk getting in trouble again.

 

**– 1:59 pm –**

_**Jefferson High School Gym** _

When TJ entered into the gym, wearing his basketball kit, he was instantly greeted by Buffy. He hadn’t been able to hang out with her or Andi at lunch because they were off stapling posters up around the school.

Instead, he had hung out with Reed and Lester. And Cyrus. After their interactions at break and lunch, TJ could officially say that, yep, he was royally fucked. They hadn’t even known each other for half a day yet and he was already crushing super hard on the insanely cute brown-haired boy.

But TJ couldn’t help it. Cyrus was just so seemingly perfect. He was gorgeous, he was nice, he was funny and he was smart. Even his obliviousness to the most obvious things like idioms and basic common knowledge was adorable. If this was how TJ reacted to Cyrus on the first day of meeting him, TJ could only imagine how screwed he’d be by the end of the week.

“I hear you’re causing trouble,” Buffy smiled at him.

TJ sighed. “It was nothing, I just got a 10-minute detention after school,”

Buffy just rolled her eyes.

At that moment, they were all called over by Coach Lopez. For the next hour, they just played basketball. TJ and Buffy were on separate teams and the rivalry between them was stronger than any other on the court. They might have been friends now, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t serious when it came to basketball.

After the hour was up, the Coach called them all over. He made sure to give them all pointers on how to improve before releasing them back into the changing rooms.

As they walked there, TJ said, “Amazing game, wasn’t it Slayer?”

Buffy snorted. “You’re only saying that because you won,”

“True, but not relevant,”

“Well don’t get used to it,” Buffy smirked, “It’s never happening again,”

“You wish,”

After getting changed, TJ began to head for Miss. Martins classroom. Upon arriving there, he heard two muffled voices speaking rather hurriedly. One was male, the other was female (presumably Miss. Martin). Upon opening the door, he only caught the end of the females sentence.

“-don’t trust her at all,”

The two people in there snapped their heads to look at him. One of them was Miss. Martins, as expected, but the other one was… Cyrus?

“Hello, TJ,” Cyrus smiled at him, taking his breath away (fucking hell that was sappy), “What are you doing here?”

“Mr. Kippen is here to do 10 minutes after school with me,” Miss. Martins told him, “He needs to learn not to talk over his superiors, isn’t that right Mr Kippen?”

“Yes Miss.” TJ replied bitterly.

“Alright then,” Cyrus laughed, heading for the door, “See ya later Teej,”

At this moment, Cyrus said something else to Miss. Martins, but TJ wasn’t paying attention to that. He was too busy internally freaking out because _Cyrus had just called him Teej!!!!_

He was pulled from his euphoria and back down to Earth by Miss. Martins coughing. Oh right. Detention.

“Sorry Miss.” He moved to sit down at the desk at the front of the classroom.

Miss. Martins sighed before moving to sit on her own desk. “This isn’t exactly the best start to our teacher-student relationship, is it Mr. Kippen?”

“No Miss.”

Miss. Martins sighed once more. “I’m willing to look past this event if you promise there’ll be no more talking over me,”

“Yes Miss.”

Miss. Martins let a slight smile show. TJ found himself slightly shocked; he wasn’t aware that she was capable of such emotions. “You know you don’t have to say Miss. after everything you say to me, Mr. Kippen,”

TJ cracked a slight smirk. “Yes Miss.”

Miss. Martins slightly chuckled. TJ was even more shocked by this. “You’re a good kid, Mr. Kippen. Just try to show it more in class,”

Getting off her desk, she went behind it and opened a drawer. Out of it, she took a blue workbook. Oh! It was his!

“I had a look through this,” She flicked through it, “Your work in it is dismal at best,”

TJ found himself scowling slightly. “I struggle with maths, Miss.”

“Yes, I can tell,” she said, not unkindly and apparently she was oblivious to TJs unhappiness, “But you aren’t completely unsalvageable,”

She put the book down on her desk and moved to sit down next to TJ at the desk he was at. “I’m willing to tutor you in maths, to help you get your grade up back to the required level,”

“You’d do that?” TJ perked up, “Really?”

“Yes, of course. I’m not a complete bat, Mr. Kippen, despite what you may believe,”

“Are you sure about that?” TJ cracked a smile.

“Don’t push it, you,” she warned, getting up off the seat, “I don’t have to do this. It’s not in my contract, I don’t even get payed extra to do it-,”

“Then why are you doing it?”

“Don’t interrupt me, Mr. Kippen,” Miss. Martins eyes flashed warningly, “I’m doing it because I want to.” She paused. “And also because your friend recommended I do it,”

“Cyrus,” TJ said softly.

“Yes,” Miss. Martins confirmed, “He was rather stubborn. It appears you made quite the impression on him, Mr. Kippen,”

TJ couldn’t help but smile and blush slightly. He could practically feel himself falling for Cyrus even more than he already had.

“Wow,” Was all TJ managed to say out loud. Miss. Martins smiled slightly at that.

“Wow indeed. I’ve never met someone quite like Cyrus Goodman,” she said wondrously, “He’s a good egg. Not like his-… Nevermind,”

TJ frowned. What had she been about to say?

“Anyway, I believe it has been 10 minutes and you are now free to go,”

TJ looked in surprise at the clock that was hung on the back wall of the classroom. True to her word, it was now 10 past three. How had the time gone by so quickly?

“Time flies by when you’re having fun Mr. Kippen,” she remarked, sensing what TJ was thinking, “Now let’s say your first session will be with me on Thursday after school, I don’t want you any later than 3 minutes, okay?”

“Okay, Miss.”

“Good,” Miss. Martins said, “Now off with you,”

“Thank you, Miss.” TJ yelled over his shoulder as he left the room, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. Behind him, he could have sworn he heard her yell back at him, “You’re very welcome,”

With a smile, TJ got out his phone to text the Group Chat he was in with Reed and Lester. He just had to tell them what had happened!

 

**– 3:30 pm –**

_**Outside The Spoon** _

If someone looked outside the window of The Spoon, they would get a shock when they realised a girl with a pixie haircut was out there staring right back at them.

But Andi didn’t care about this. She was trying to work up the courage to go in. In one of the corner seats of the diner was Jonah, his girlfriend and her ‘gaggle of brainless followers’, as Andi had called them earlier. It was probably for the best that she kept that bit to herself so what she was about to do could go over well. Andi had had the whole day to think this over and after another encouraging talk with Buffy at lunch she had made up her mind.

She was going to take Buffy’s advice. She was going to give Natalie a second chance.

The bell of the door rung as she entered. Nobody turned to look at her; everyone was too caught up in their conversations. Nobody save Natalie.

Upon noticing her, the brown-haired girls face experienced several emotions. First she was clearly shocked, then she went blank and unreadable.

Noticing his girlfriend’s sudden mood change, Jonah turned to the source of her distress. His face also turned unreadable upon noticing Andi. After whispering something to his girlfriend, he got up and began to walk over to her.

“Andi, if all you’ve come to do is moan-,”

“I’ve not come to moan ,” Andi interrupted, “I’ve come to apologise,”

Jonah seemed taken aback for a moment. “Oh?”

Andi took in a deep breath. “I was a bitch; a real bitch to you and I shouldn’t have been. And I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I know that doesn’t make what I said right, but it’s all I can say. I’m sorry,”

Jonah still seemed momentarily stunned. “Well, erm, I’m glad that you’re apologising and I forgive you, of course, but… is this really the best time?” He briefly looked behind him to where Natalie was sitting and watching them nervously.

“I’ve decided to take your advice,” Andi said before she went straight past him and to the table that Natalie and her friends were sitting at.

“Hi,” Andi said to her, “Can we talk?”

For a moment, Natalie didn’t reply and just looked at her blankly and Andi feared that her attempts at giving a second chance wouldn’t even begin. But then she nodded and got up out of her seat. Together, they began to walk in toe out of The Spoon.

As they walked past Jonah, who’s mouth was in the shape of an ‘o’, Andi focused on him and the friendship they had. She focused on how she didn’t want to lose it and how she would feel if she did. She focused on how important it was to not blow up at Natalie.

Outside, they turned to each other and for a moment there was an extremely awkward silence. A thousands words lingered there, ready to just pour out at any moment.

And then they came out in floods.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Natalie began, “It was so fucking wrong to do what I did, there hasn’t been a day since where I don’t regret it,”

“Yeah, it was wrong,” Andi could feel anger beginning to bubble at remembering the event, but she forced it down, “You outed me to the entire school. My name was’ Dyke Girl’ for an entire month. The amount of times I had that word spray painted on my locker was unbelievable. It was hell! I almost had to move schools!” For the last part she raised her volume, disobeying her own rules.

“I’m sorry,” Natalie practically whispered. And was that tears brimming in her eyes? “I threw away our friendship for a cheap joke that wasn’t even funny, and I’m sorry. And I know there’s not enough times I could say that to make everything right again, but that’s all I can say. I’m just really, really sorry,”

A single tear had rolled down Natalie’s face and Andi couldn’t find it in herself to be angry anymore. It was incredibly clear how sincere the other girl was and Andi knew in that moment that Jonah and Buffy were right. She had changed.

“Can we just forget about the past?” Andi sighed, “You’re right in that nothing will ever make what you did right. But can we just move on, forget about it and leave Middle School in Middle School?” Andi held out her hand to the other girl. For a moment, Natalie just stared at. But then she grasped hold of it and shook it firmly.

The past was in the past.

From the handshake, Andi dragged Natalie into a hug.

“I’ve missed this,” Came the muffled voice of Natalie eliciting a slight chuckle from Andi.

Leaving the hug, Natalie offered a small smile to Andi, “Do you wanna come back and sit with me and my friends? I’ll buy you baby taters, just like the good old days!”

“I’d really love to, but I really need to be getting home,” Andi was only somewhat lying. While she did need to get home, it was also because she didn’t want to risk blowing up at Natalie, especially after they had only just reconciled. Baby steps were better than no steps.

“Okay,” Natalie said disappointedly, “But we’ll have to come to The Spoon together at some point, just you and me. We’ve got so much to catch up on,”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Andi confirmed with a smile, “I’ll see you around,”

“Yeah, see ya,”

With that, Andi turned around and began to slowly walk away, the bell behind her signalling that Natalie had returned into The Spoon.

Andi couldn’t help but feel like a huge weight had been taken off her chest. Buffy was right, again (although she’d never tell her this; her ego was big enough as it was).

Andi was only two shops away from The Spoon when she was stopped in her tracks by a male voice calling after her. Upon turning back, she saw that it was Jonah and he was running towards her.

“Sorry, quick question,” Jonah began. “Why did you change your mind? You seemed so adamant this morning that she couldn’t change”

Andi sighed. “Honestly Buffy put the entire idea in my head. But I also realised over the day that I don’t want to lose my best friend over something as stupid as an old grudge,”

For a moment, Jonah just looked at Andi and she wondered worriedly if she had said something wrong. This was before he pulled her into a hug. Andi concluded that she had not said something wrong.

“Thank you,” came the muffled voice of Jonah.

“Don’t mention it,” Andi replied.

 

**– 3:45 pm –**

_**The Martins Residence** _

 

As Cyrus headed up the cobble pathway to the house of his guardian, he thought about the wonderful first day he had just had.

He had met great people, had a great time and all in all everything was just extremely great. TJ was a particular highlight of his day. The taller boy was extremely attractive and ever since Cyrus had first laid eyes on him he had been enamoured. Not once in the entire day had he thought about the terrible thing that had befouled him the week previously!

Past the old oak tree, he went up to the blue door and put his key into the lock. Turning it, he entered into the house.

The place still smelt of fresh paint from where they had all moved in only a week’s previously and Cyrus found himself still enjoying the smell deeply. It was so nice. So  _human_!

Walking into the kitchen just down the hallway, he found that she was already in there. She was sitting at the table, and knowing her she was probably munching on a large bar of chocolate (ever since they had arrived on this planet she had been obsessed), drinking coffee and reading a magazine (she told Cyrus that she wanted to burn ‘those awful rags’ but yet Cyrus still caught her reading them).

“Hey Amber!”

“You took your fucking time,”


	2. The Promise that didn't last a day

**–**   **Tuesday 23 rd October, 3:46pm –**

**_The Martins residence_ **

****

_“Hey Amber,”_

_“You took your fucking time,”_

“I got caught up with something,” Swinging his burgundy bag off his back, Cyrus moved to the practically glimmering kitchen counter and placed his bag on it.

As he turned to the shelf to get a glass, Amber muttered, “Of course you did,”

She took a bite out of her chocolate bar. The packaging read ‘Hershey's Milk Chocolate’ and although Cyrus didn’t know what the hell a Hershey was, he figured it couldn’t be a bad thing that Amber had discovered an attachment to something (she had been obsessed with them ever since they had arrived a week previously).

As Cyrus began to pour himself some orange juice, he asked her, “Why are you in such a bad mood?”

Amber turned to him. “A better question would be why aren’t you in a bad mood, all the time, at every waking moment?”

Cyrus ignored her question. After spending a week in Amber’s presence, he figured this was the best way to deal with her when she mentioned ‘the incident’. Cyrus liked to call it that; it made the whole ordeal seem less bad than it actually was. And if it seemed less bad, Cyrus could deal with it easier.

Setting his glass of water on the flowery coaster, Cyrus sat down at the dark oak table directly across from her. He tried to catch her eye, but she instead chose to look anywhere but him.

“How was your first day?” he said conversationally. Amber gave him a dirty look.

“Pitiful,” she snarked, “Everything they taught me at that ‘school’ I either already knew or didn’t need to know,”

“Well I had a great first day,” Cyrus ignored her pessimism, “I met some people, tried to fit in…”

“Of course you did, Prince,”

Cyrus visibly flinched. “Don’t call me that,”

“Why?” Amber taunted, taking a bite out of the chocolate bar, “It’s what you are, isn’t it?”

“Not anymore,” Cyrus shut his eyes tight and tried to block out all the memories flooding back to him. He let out a deep and long sigh and opened his brown eyes, “I know what you’re trying to do,”

“I’m not doing anything,” Amber deadpanned, putting the unfinished chocolate bar on the table and getting out of her chair, “I’m going to my room. Call if you need me,”

“Amber-,”

“No, Cyrus,” Amber hissed, “I don’t need your pity. I will do what’s expected of me-,”

“You know I don’t expect you to,” Cyrus interrupted.

“No, but it’s what your people expected,” Amber retorted, “So I will be your protector, but only because I’ve got no choice. But you will not try to befriend me, you will let me do my own thing and I will let you do yours,”

“All I want is for you to have a normal life here,” Cyrus was getting out of his seat now too. “This is your second chance, where nobody knows who you are or what you did. You can live freely-,”

“It’s a bit difficult to live freely when you’ve got something nested in your body designed to make the opposite happen,”

Cyrus exhaled deeply. “You know I won’t use that thing,”

“You say that now, Cyrus, but one day you will find yourself giving me an order. And I’ll find myself having to obey,”

“That’s never going to happen,” Cyrus said firmly, “I promise,”

Amber stared at him for a moment. “Whatever you say, Prince. Whatever you say,”

As she left the room, Cyrus called after her, “Don’t call me that!”

He sighed. Picking up the chocolate bar Amber had been munching on, he inspected it, almost as if he were searching for poison. Then deciding it was safe, he took a large bite out of it.

“ _Not bad,”_  Cyrus thought before chucking it in the bin.

 

**– 5:00 pm –**

**_The Spoon_ **

 

The Spoons delicious chocolate milkshakes were pretty much the only reason TJ had allowed Reed to drag him here after they shooted some hoops in the park. Not that he didn’t love hanging with Reed, he totally did! But TJ knew the inevitable conversation that was going to happen. After all, TJ had hardly been subtle about his newfound crush.

Reed was sitting opposite him and sipping on his own strawberry milkshake. They both sat in a comfortable silence as they drank.

“So then, bro,” Reed began, signalling the start of the dreaded conversation, “Cyrus, then?”

TJ took an extra-long sip of his milkshake before trying the oblivious route, “What about him?”

Reed’s smirk indicated that strategy wasn’t going to work. “You like him, don’t you?”

“O-of course I do, he’s a nice guy.” TJ stammered. He could feel the heat of a blush crawling onto his skin.

“You know exactly what I mean,”

“Of course I do,” TJ gave up his act, burying his head in his hands, “Yet another straight guy to hopelessly pine over,”

Reed scoffed. “He’s not straight, bro. Did you see how he was looking at you?”

“With his eyes?” TJ deadpanned.

“Very funny, Kippen,” Reed rolled his eyes, “But that’s not my point. My point is that he clearly likes you back,”

TJ sighed. “I don’t wanna get my hopes up, Reed. I’ve had them crushed so many times, now,”

“Like when you found I was straight?” Reed jested.

“You literally came out to me last week,” TJ said flatly.

“That’s why I said ‘was’,” Reed pointed out, taking another large slurp of his drink before becoming serious again, “You have nothing to worry about, bro. Your feelings are clearly returned, you just need to get to asking him out,”

“I’ll think about it,” TJ sighed, finishing off his drink.

Then completely out of the blue he asked, “You like Lester, don’t you?”

“Wh-?” Reed had clearly been caught off guard. Going slightly red, the blonde-haired boy asked, “Wh-what gave you that impression?”

“The fact that you’re reacting the same way I reacted when you asked me about Cyrus,” TJ smirked, “And the fact I’ve got eyes. You look at him like he hung the stars,”

“Please keep shitty romance cliché lines out of this, please,” Reed started, “And also… Yeah, you’re right,”

“I knew it,” TJ grinned.

Reed sighed. “Doesn’t matter anyway. He’s straight,”

“You don’t know that-,”

“Yeah I do,” Reed interrupted, “He said so when I came out to you lot, remember?”

“He could have been joking?” TJ frowned. He did remember that exact conversation going down a weeks previously.

“Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but it’s not working,”

“You should tell him,” Reed looked at TJ as if he was a fucking idiot.

“Are you serious?” Reed asked, “That’d ruin our friendship!”

“No it wouldn’t” TJ said dismissively, “You’ve been friends with him since Kindergarten, nothing could change that,”

“Having a crush on him might!”

“No it won’t! And even if he is straight, at least you’ll be able to get it off your chest,”

Reed stared him down. “I’ll tell him if you tell Cyrus,”

TJ stared right back at him, not answering for a moment. He wanted to say no. So that was exactly what he said.

“Deal,”

Wait, what the fuck?

 

 **–** **6:01 pm –**

**_Andi >> Walker_ **

****

**Walker:** hey

 **Andi:** wat do u need???

 **Walker:** y do u think I need something??

 **Walker:** perhaps I just wanna talk to my bestest friend :)))

 **Andi:** suree

 **Walker:** but naw ur right I need something :)

 **Andi:** goddammit walker

 **Walker:** so y’know the art show on Friday??

 **Andi:** how could I forget

 **Walker:** well gus pulled out supervising last minute cos of something with his mum

 **Andi:** and u want me to fill his place

 **Walker:** :))))

 **Andi:** ur gonna end up owing me so many favours

 **Walker:** I know :)

 **Andi:** sighh

 **Andi:** i’ll do it

 **Walker:** whoop!!!

 

**–7:45 pm-**

**_Wickham Street_ **

 

The street was dark, lit up only by a few streetlights, and rain splattered down upon the pavement. Lester was pretty much soaked through as he walked through the puddles towards his home, and he couldn’t wait to finally be dry again. He’d put on some TV, or perhaps a movie, sit under his covers and listen to the rain patter against his roof.

Lester liked the rain, but only when he wasn’t in it. Listening to it gave him a sense of calm that nothing else gave him, except perhaps Reed on the occasion.

But even though he liked the rain, all he wanted now was to just get out of it. The rain, instead of filling him with a soothing calm, gave him a sense of dread. And it was all because of the creature from the night previously. It was roughly at this time when he saw it, with its sickening skin and eyeless eye sockets.

And then he saw it. Standing at the end of the street, on the turning that would lead to his house, was the thing from last night. Nothing about it had changed, no sign of damage from the blonde girl, Amber. It looked fine. And it installed more fear, more dread inside of him.

He was shaking. Lester could feel that he was shaking, his whole body was. Partly due to the fear and partly due to the cold.

He shut his eyes. It was an incredibly childish thought, but maybe if he couldn’t see it, it would go away. Please just let it go away!

Lester’s eyes were pressed together so tight that they just might never open again. He didn’t want a single wisp of light to be let in. He didn’t want to risk it.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and felt no more rain fall onto him. He tensed. He held his breath.

“Are you alright, love?” Wait. That was a _human_ voice. Lester snapped open his eyes to be greeted with two green ones dripping with concern looking right back at him. And they didn’t belong to some hostile alien creature, they belonged to a woman who looked to be in her 60s. She held an umbrella above their heads, shielding them from the wetness.

“Dear, are you alright?” she repeated, shaking his shoulder slightly, “Do you need help?”

“I-I’m, I’m-,” Lester was stuttering massively, more than when he had talked to any crush he had had in the past. He didn’t know what to do, what to say.

Looking past her head, Lester saw nothing. No creature coming to kill him, nothing. Just rows of houses and the pouring rain. He let out a shaky breathe. “I’m fine,”

“Are you sure?” she still looked concerned. Lester couldn’t help but feel a touch of gratitude towards this lady.

“Yes, yes. I’m fine,” he got out, “I’ll just, erm, be off now,”

He shrugged her hand off him and walked back out into the rain. “Thanks for the concern, though,”

Once he got round the corner, he ran the rest of the way home.

 

**– Wednesday 24 th October, 8:43 am –**

**_Inside Jefferson High School_ **

 

“I saw it again,” Lester’s shaky voice cut through TJs conversation with Reed. As they walked down the slightly crowded corridor to get to their English classroom, Reeds head instantly whipped around to look at Lester.

“What?”

“It was last night,” Lester practically whispered. TJ had to strain his ears in order to hear him over the loud conversations of the people around them, “I was walking home from the park, all I could think of was that fucking creature. And then I saw it standing at the end of the street, staring right at me,”

“Well I think you just answered what happened by yourself, bro,” Reed said softly, “You were thinking about it so you imagined you saw it-,”

“Like PTSD?” TJ injected.

“Exactly,”

“But it was real,” Lester protested, a frustrated edge to his voice. “I could see it with my own two eyes!”

“It was just your imagination,” Reed insisted.

“It wasn’t my fucking imagination!” Lester exclaimed, “It’s real, and it’s coming for me. It’s coming to kill me!”

“Lester-”

“It’s not gonna stop-,”

“Lester!” Reed said louder this time, breaking Lester out of his ramblings. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he turned to Lester, “Look at me. Take a deep breath in… and out,”

Lester did as Reed asked of him, staring deep into the blonde boys blue eyes. He focused on his breathing, making sure each breath was even. Reed stood there firmly, his eye contact with Lester not wavering. TJ had no idea how the hell he could do that with his crush without turning into a blushing, stuttering mess. If he had to hold eye contact with Cyrus like that he might just implode from embarrassment.

“You alright now?” Reed asked softly.

“Yeah,” Lester returned, shutting his eyes, “I- I’m sorry, I freaked out,”

“Talk to me,” Reed told him, “Why do you think it’s real, why do you think it wants to kill you?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a gut instinct I have,” Lester’s voice was still shaky, but much less so now, “And it is real. I don’t care what you say, Reed, it is real.”

“Okay. I believe you,”

“And- Wait, what?”

“I believe you,” he simply said, “This’s clearly affecting you so much that it must be real. We believe you, right TJ?”

TJ could tell from Reeds eyes that he still didn’t believe Lester, he himself was having a hard time believing it (aliens? In Jefferson High School? No chance.) But Lester looked like he was one wrong word away from breaking and TJ absolutely hated seeing one of his best friends like this, “Yeah, we believe you,”

But then this was also lying to his friend. And he didn’t like that either.

“Thank you, guys,” Lester breathed out, “You have no idea what it means to actually be believed,” And that just made TJ feel even worse.

“Hey guys,” Cyrus came up to them cheerfully, clutching the straps of his backpack and seemingly oblivious to any of what had just happened. Today the boy had chosen to wear a red and black checkered shirt; TJ would by lying if he said the boy didn’t look cute as hell in it. TJ already felt a blush beginning to make its way onto his face (for Christ’s sake TJ he _just_ got there!).

It was at this moment Cyrus noticed something was up. “Is something wrong?”

“Don’t worry about it, my dude,” Reed came over to Cyrus to ruffle his hair and once more TJ felt that strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. This time, however, he could pinpoint exactly what it was. Jealousy.

TJ knew this feeling was incredibly stupid, after all Reed was hopelessly smitten with Lester. But there was no taking away from the fact that said blonde boy was an incredibly attractive young man. If he chose to, he could have his pick of anyone in the school, including Cyrus. But then Cyrus was probably straight. Fuck.

The conversation TJ had with Reed yesterday floated back into mind. What if he was right? What if TJ did have a chance?

Summoning every inch of confidence that he was supposed to have, TJ put an arm around Cyrus, pulling him in close. He could already feel his cheeks going incredibly warm from the action, “Come on then, Cy, we’ve got English first,”

In response, Cyrus gave him a warm smile and leaned into his touch. Was it his imagination, or was there a hint of red on Cyrus’s cheeks?

As they began to set off again down the corridor, Reed gave a TJ a look as if to say ‘I told you so’. TJ found the urge to flip him off was really, really difficult to ignore.

 

**– 8:40 am –**

**_Andi’s locker_ **

 

As Andi pulled out some books from her locker and placed them in her bag, she felt the presence of someone standing behind her.

Assuming it was Buffy, she said, “You were right, Natalie has changed,”

“Well I’m glad your friend thinks highly of me,”

Andi whipped her head around so fast it almost came rolling off. Stood there with a wide smile on her face was Natalie. For once, Andi noticed the girl didn’t have a single one of her followers with her (she should probably keep that thought to herself).

“I thought you were Buffy,” Andi said dumbly.

“Well clearly I’m not,” Natalie pointed out, getting slightly closer to Andi, “But I’m glad you listened to your friends advice,”

“So am I,” Andi said with a smile before turning away to shut her locker, “So what do you need?”

“What makes you think I need anything?” Natalie grinned as Andi swung her bag onto her shoulder, “Perhaps I just want to talk to my friend,”

“Y’know I’m getting a weird sense of Deja vu right about now,”

“Well maybe I need something…”

“Knew it,”

“But it isn’t really something I need, more like something I’d like,” Natalie added quickly, “Do you wanna sit with me, and my friends, at lunch today? We’ve got so much to catch up on,”

“Oh! Oh I’m sorry,” Andi, at least on the surface, appeared genuinely apologetic, “I’ve got a meeting at lunch about the Halloween disco,”

“Oh,” Natalie replied dejectedly, “That’s important, I guess,”

“But we can catch up another time?” Andi suggested, “How about tomorrow at the Spoon?”

“Yes,” Natalie smiled, “I’d like that,”

 

**– 1:17 pm –**

**_Jefferson High School Cafeteria_ **

“What the hell is that?” Cyrus’s eyes were as big as saucers. As Reed sat down next to Lester, he put down the item which had pulled Cyrus’s attention away from the conversation he was having with TJ.

“What’s this?” Reed asked, pointing to the edible delicacy in front of him. In response, Cyrus nodded frantically (and cutely, in TJs opinion). Reed chuckled, “Don’t tell me you’ve never had a chocolate, chocolate chip muffin before,”

“Chocolate, chocolate chip muffin?” Cyrus repeated, his eyes gazing longingly at it. TJ really wished he was that muffin, “No I haven’t,”

“You wanna bit?” Reed broke off a bit, already handing it to Cyrus before said boy even had a chance to say ‘hell yes!’ (or at least that’s what it looked like he was about to say).

The reaction was instant. As soon as the delicious treat entered into his mouth, a low moan escaped Cyrus’s lips. TJ could feel a blush crawling up his neck once more from this sound. Reed stifled a laugh.

“Oh my God,” Cyrus said through the mouthful of muffin, “It’s beautiful!”

“I know right,” Reed grinned, “How the hell have you not had one before?”

“I don’t know! I wish I had,” Cyrus’s eye were shut as he made it very visible how much he was enjoying the muffin. TJ found it hard to look away.

“This is the happiest I’ve ever seen you Cyrus,” TJ teased as Cyrus swallowed down the last of the muffin.

“That’s because _this_ is the happiest moment of my life,” Cyrus said wistfully as he got up out of his seat, “I’m getting one,”

TJ watched Cyrus as he skipped all the way to the line for the cafeteria. He knew he had a big, stupid grin on his face, but he couldn’t care less. Cyrus was just too adorable for TJs heart.

“You’ve got it bad, bro,” Reeds teasing pulled TJ’s attention away from Cyrus (for the first time in forever).

“I know,” TJ sighed.

“Are you gonna ask him out, then?”

“Soon,” That was a lie. A complete and utter lie. And they both knew it. “Just make sure you hold up your end of the deal when I do,”

TJ glanced to Lester, only to find that the dark-haired boy was not listening to their conversation. The boy seemed to be staring off into the distance at something. Or someone. Following his gaze, TJ found that the boy was looking at a blonde-haired girl.

“Hey Lester,” TJ pulled Lester out of his gazing, “Who’re you staring at?”

“Wh-what?”

“What’s this?” Reed teased, “Has Lester got a crush?”

“No guys-,”

“Aw, come on Lester. There’s no need to be shy with us,” TJ smirked.

“Seriously guys, it’s not a crush,” Lester sighed, “The girl over there, the blonde haired one. She was the one in the hallway with me when I saw the creature,”

TJ looked back round to her to observe her more deeply. He had never seen her around before, even though she looked to be the same age as him. Perhaps he had just never seen her? Perhaps she was new? But still, neither explained why Lester would think this. Unless the hallway events really did happen. But that was absurd! Right?

“Lester, are you sure?” Reed asked, “Maybe your wrong?”

“What?!”

“Maybe-”

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Lester said, looking between TJ and Reed, “You lied earlier, didn’t you?”

“No, Lester,” TJ tried to explain, “We-”

“I’m not a fucking idiot, TJ, don’t even try,” Lester got out of his seat.

“Lester, please, you gotta see. How can we just believe you?” Reed explained, “An alien, or a ghost? They’re not real! It must’ve been your imagination!”

“Why would it have been my imagination?” Lester was getting more than frustrated now, he was getting angry, “How the fuck does that make sense. How- you know what, I’m not even gonna bother,”

And with that he was gone, walking away to the exit.

“Lester,” TJ tried to call after him. But he didn’t look back.

“I fucked up,” Reed sighed.

“Yep,” TJ agreed, “You did,”

“That really doesn’t make me feel better,” Reed said bitterly, “Should I go after him?”

“No, that would only make it worse,” TJ told him, “Give him time to calm down, and he’ll come around,”

“Yeah,” Reed sighed once more, “God I hate him being angry at me,”

“I know,” TJ could hardly imagine how he’d react if Cyrus was mad at him.

Speak of the devil, “They ran out of muffins,” Cyrus slumped back down next to TJ.

“That’s alright, Cyrus, there’s always tomorrow,” TJ reassured him.

“I can’t wait that long!”  Cyrus whined.

“Tell you what,” TJ plucked up some courage, “I’ll help you get one tomorrow, free of charge,”

“Really?” Cyrus looked to him gratefully, “Thanks TJ!”

“Your welcome, Muffin,” TJ didn’t even realise what he had said until he heard Reeds poor attempt to stifle his laughter, “What?” he frowned.

“Did you just call me Muffin?” Cyrus was blushing, not even TJ could deny it this time. And he looked really fucking cute, and god now TJ was blushing too. Reed was probably having a whale of time on the other side of the table. Maybe he could flip him off without Cyrus noticing?

“No?” TJ said weakly. What had happened to his confidence? Realising his feeble lie was not being believed, he let out a shaky laugh, “It’s a nickname? I think?”

“A nickname…” Cyrus trailed off, before giving TJ a smile, “Sure, I like it. It’s a pretty cute nickname,”

Well done TJ, you salvaged the situation, “Cute nickname for a cute guy,” And you fucked it up again.

Reed was openly laughing now and Cyrus was blushing harder than ever. TJ found that it had suddenly gotten much, much warmer. Maybe if he wished hard enough the ground would swallow him whole?

“Christ it’s warm in here,” Cyrus seemed to be suffering from the same condition TJ was, “I think I need some air, I’ll be back in a minute,”

As soon as Cyrus was out of earshot, TJ buried his head in his heads, vowing to never leave again.

“That was-”

TJ cut Reed off by flipping him off, but this only caused Reed to laugh even more.

“Oh my God, Teej,” Reed wiped his eyes, “Fuck, I’m crying! That’s the most awkward, most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Shut up!!” TJ whined, “I’m dead now. Stop laughing at a dead person,”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Reed said, coming down from his laughing high. Anyone looking at their table would think that he was crazy, “But that was fucking brilliant, bro. Best bit of comedy I’ve seen in ages,”

“Shut your fricking mouth you fricker,” TJ looked up at Reed, “I can never speak to him again now,”

“Sure you can,”

“Now it’s pretty obvious I’m crushing on him,”

“But you now know he feels something for you,” Reed pointed out, “Otherwise he wouldn’t have gone so red when you called him cute,”

“Maybe,” TJ said. Suddenly, Reeds attention was drawn to behind TJs head. Frowning, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The girl Lester pointed out earlier is staring at us,” Reed muttered. TJ turned and sure enough, he found the girl looking at them. She was leaning against the wall of the cafeteria, her phone in one hand and a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar in the other. He made eye contact with her and something inside him went cold.

“Yes she is,” TJ turned back round to Reed, “I’m going to go speak to her,”

“You want me to come with?” asked Reed as TJ got up off the seat.

“No. It’ll be weird if we both go over,”

“And it won’t be weird if only you go?”

“Shut up and hold the fort would you?” TJ turned to go before thinking of something and turning back, “And if Cyrus comes back, don’t fucking say anything,”

“Aye-aye captain,” Reed saluted him, “Any more orders?”

“Shut up dipshit,” TJ properly turned to go this time to make his way over to the girl.

 

**– 1:33 pm –**

**_Outside Jefferson High School_ **

****

Once outside, Cyrus took in a deep gulp of the fresh air. What the hell had that feeling been? He had never felt in such a way before. Sure, he knew he found TJ attractive. But he had never gotten so red before. He had never been so flustered before.

Making his way to sit down on a bench, he didn’t even realise there were already two people sitting at it until he had plonked himself next to them.

“Hey Cyrus,” Buffy snapped him out of his trance. The boy next to her was looking at him curiously, “What’s up?”

“What-? Nothing! Nothings wrong, I’m fine,” Cyrus protested a little too quickly. Buffy smirked.

“Really?”

“Yes really,”

“Seems like you’re a little flustered,” Buffy commented.

“No I’m not,” Cyrus said that much, much too quickly.

“Oh I think you are. Come on Cyrus, tell us who’s got you all hot and bothered,”

“Leave the poor kid alone, Buffy,” the boy next to her sighed, “He looks like he might collapse from embarrassment,”

“Oh like you’re not interested, Marty,” Buffy retorted. The boy, Marty, grinned at her in response, “I should probably introduce you two. Marty, this is Cyrus. He joined this hellhole yesterday. Cyrus, this dumpster fire is Marty,”

“Alright,” Marty greeted him before turning back to Buffy, “And dumpster fire? Love you too, babe,”

“And somehow he’s also my boyfriend,” Buffy rolled her eyes, “Although how I put up with you I don’t know,”

“Just because I beat you at everything,”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really,”

“Can you speak German?”

“Of cou- Wait, no. But you can’t either,”

“Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof,” Buffy said smugly.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“Don’t have a clue, but it’s German,”

“Anyway,” Marty said loudly, turning his attention back to Cyrus, who was looking very confused (and a tad scared) by their bickering, “So Cyrus. Who’ve you got the hots for?”

“Is it someone we know?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah,” Cyrus said slowly and unsurely. Should he tell them? He didn’t know how these sort of feelings worked on this planet. What if they weren’t right?

“Is it Andi?” Buffy questioned. Cyrus shook his head.

“Is it a girl?” Marty injected. Cyrus looked at him directly. Here goes nothing! He shook his head.

For a moment Buffy and Marty looked surprised, Buffy more so than Marty. But they regained control quite quickly. This one moment of surprise was enough to worry Cyrus.

“Is it not right?” Cyrus frowned, “The schools where I come from are _very_ different.”

“No, no,” Buffy said quickly, “It’s absolutely alright,”

“She wouldn’t be dating me if she thought it wasn’t alright,” Marty injected, “I’m bi so it’d be pretty awkward if she thought otherwise,”

“Bye?” Cyrus frowned. What was a bye? Cyrus thought that was something used to express good wishes when parting at the end of a conversation (or at least that was what Google said). And great now he looked like an idiot.

“Bisexual, y’know. Like when you’re attracted to both men and women,” Marty explained.

“Oh! Yes, I know!” Cyrus exclaimed even though he didn’t know. He’d have to add that to his list of things to Google.

“Right,” Marty simply said, “Any who, we better be off. We got basketball last and the coach hates it if we’re late,”

“Yeah. He’s a real dick,” Buffy said as she got off the bench, Marty and Cyrus following suit.

“He’s not bad,” Marty said, “Anyway. See you later Cyrus,”

“And you better tell me who you’re crushing on later,” Buffy grinned at him before Marty dragged her off.

Well that had been interesting, to say the least.

 

**– 1:33 pm –**

**_Jefferson High School Cafeteria_ **

 

“Hey there,”

“What do you want?” the girl snapped at TJ, not even looking up from her phone.

TJ sighed. “Well there’s no need to be rude,”

“What do you want?” the girl repeated once more, this time looking up to meet TJs eyes, “Either get on with it or fuck off, it’s quite simple,”

“Fine,” TJ began, “My friend, Lester, thinks he saw some weird ass creature last night and the night before. He thinks he saw you there on the first night,”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the girl looked blankly at him. She was lying. If TJ was anyone else he might have been fooled by it, but he could see straight though her.

“You do know something,” TJ leaned on the wall next to her, “I can tell,”

“Well I don’t,” she snapped, “If your done harassing me, I’d like you to fuck off now,”

“My friend is being seriously affected by this,” TJ said angrily, “You’re the only person who knows anything about whatever’s happening to him. I swear to god if this is some massive prank-”

“It’s not a prank,” she interrupted, “Fuck off,”

“Then what is it?” TJ pushed further, “What happened?”

“It was an alien,” she said, “It was a fucking alien, alright? I was hunting a fucking alien and I would have succeeded in trapping it if it wasn’t your friend, who got in the fucking way. Are you happy now? Is that the answer you wanted? Do you even fucking believe me?”

TJ stared at her. “I don’t know why. But I think I do,”

 

**– 1:37 pm –**

 

“Bullshit,” Reed stated after TJ relayed what she had said to him, “She’s talking complete and utter bullshit,”

“I don’t know Reed,” TJ started, “Her story lines up with Lester’s. And I guess it makes sense,”

“How does it make sense?!” Reed exclaimed, “Aliens!? Aliens in Jefferson High School? I’m sorry but that is just bullshit,”

“What is?” Cyrus was sitting back down next to TJ, “What’s bullshit?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Reed dismissed, “It’s nothing,”

“The exact same thing was said to me this morning,” Cyrus said, “Don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not that. It’s just I don’t want you to go thinking that Lester is insane or some shit like that,”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say,” Cyrus frowned.

“Yeah, it isn’t,” TJ agreed, narrowing his eyes at Reed, “What’s gotten into you, man? Why can’t you just accept that there might be such a thing as aliens,”

“Wh-what?” Cyrus stammered, “Where did that come from? What?”

“Lester thought he saw an alien the other night,” TJ explained, “And then he thought he saw one again last night,”

“Right,” Cyrus said slowly, “And why are you talking about this now? And where is Lester anyway?”

“Lester stormed off. And we’re talking about it now because I just talked to this blonde girl about it. Lester said he saw her when he saw the creature,”

“Blonde girl?” Cyrus said. There was a worried edge to his voice, “What did she say?”

“She was trying to capture it, but Lester fucked it up,”

Cyrus took in a sharp inhalation of breath. “Excuse me,”

He got up out of his seat and was off.

“And now he thinks we’re crazy,” Reed exclaimed. TJ frowned. He turned to look back to Cyrus, but he had already left the cafeteria. TJ sighed. Then he scanned along the wall.

The blonde girl wasn’t there anymore either.

 

**– 1:42 pm –**

**_Girls Bathroom_ **

 

“Amber,” Cyrus whispered upon entering. Said girl was standing at the sinks, washing her hands. She didn’t turn around, but Cyrus could tell she heard him.

“Amber,” he whispered again, but it was much more like a stage whisper this time.

“You know this is the _girls_ bathroom,” Amber said, turning off the taps and walking over to the dryer, “You are a boy, prince. You’re not allowed in here,”

She turned the dryer on, which created a deafeningly loud noise. Cyrus had to shout to be heard, “When were you planning on telling me about the alien?”

“The what?”

“You heard me,”

“No I didn’t,” Amber said annoyingly, “This human machinery is really dreadful, I can’t hear a thing,”

“Then turn it off!” Cyrus yelled. Amber turned to look at him. For a few moments the noise continued, and then there was silence.

“It’d be really awkward if there was another girl in here right now,”

“When were you planning on telling me?” Cyrus said firmly.

Amber gave him a look. “I didn’t realise I had to tell you every little thing, prince,”

“You should when it’s a matter that concerns both of us. And this matter does concern, both of us deeply,”

“Well it would have been dealt with had that moronic human not gotten in the way,”

“Don’t insult my friend like that,” Cyrus said through gritted teeth.

“Why? If not for him then we’d currently be as safe as can be. But no, now one of the creatures that killed our entire planet are on this one. We’re in terrible, terrible danger,”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped!”

“You?” Amber snorted, “You could have helped? You’re a prince, prince. You could have done nothing,”

“Stop calling me that! I order you to stop calling me ‘prince’!” Cyrus didn’t realise what he said until it was too late.

Instantly, Amber let out a gasp of pain. She clutched her chest. Cyrus looked on in horror.

“Shit, Amber. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“You meant it alright,” Ambers voice was devoid of any emotion, “So much for not ‘using that thing’, eh? That promise didn’t even last a day,”

“Amber-”

“Save it pr- Cyrus,” Amber barged past him leaving Cyrus in the girls bathroom, alone.

 

**– 2:45 –**

**_Jefferson High School Gym_ **

 

They were in the middle of a basketball game. TJ was dribbling the ball up the court, dodging the other teams attempts to get the ball off him. He was about to make the shot. And then he saw it.

In the corner of the room was a creature. It’s skin withered, its eyes eyeless. But it’s mouth was contorted up into what looked like a smile. TJs eyes widened. He felt the ball fall out of his grasp.

“Kippen!” Coach Mulhern yelled at him. TJ looked over to him, away from the creature, “What the hell was that?”

TJ looked back to where he had seen the creature. It wasn’t there. There was only shadows.

“Sorry, Coach,” he managed to get out, “I got distracted,”

“Well don’t get distracted! The other team won’t get distracted!”

“I know, coach. Sorry, coach.”

“Good. Play on,”

For the rest of the game, all TJ could thing about was one thing. Lester was right. The blonde girl was right.

The alien was real.


End file.
